American National Bank & Trust Co. VA Makes New Investment in Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN)

American National Bank & Trust Co. VA acquired a new position in shares of Linde plc (NASDAQ:LIN) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 13,129 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,096,000. Linde comprises approximately 1.4% of American National Bank & Trust Co. VA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Linde during the fourth quarter worth about $3,066,825,000. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Linde by 104.2% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 18,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,672,000 after purchasing an additional 468,415 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Linde by 33,201.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 411,942 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $169,189,000 after purchasing an additional 410,705 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Linde in the first quarter valued at about $171,607,000. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Linde by 37.2% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,282,518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $526,743,000 after purchasing an additional 347,531 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LIN. UBS Group downgraded shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $482.00 to $510.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $458.00 to $452.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Linde from $480.00 to $540.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Linde from $510.00 to $475.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Linde from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $475.00 to $500.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $468.83.

Linde Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LIN traded up $2.85 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $432.94. 865,090 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,724,658. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $208.10 billion, a PE ratio of 33.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $434.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $434.37. Linde plc has a twelve month low of $358.37 and a twelve month high of $477.71.

Linde (NASDAQ:LIN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $3.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by $0.07. Linde had a net margin of 19.26% and a return on equity of 17.49%. The firm had revenue of $8.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Linde plc will post 15.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Linde Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 4th were paid a $1.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 4th. This represents a $5.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Linde’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.13%.

Linde Profile

Linde plc operates as an industrial gas company in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific. It offers atmospheric gases, including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and rare gases; and process gases, such as carbon dioxide, helium, hydrogen, electronic gases, specialty gases, and acetylene.